Hofheimer Family Law Attorneys to Speak at Advanced Family Law Seminar

Hofheimer Family Law Attorneys to Speak at Advanced Family Law Seminar

Every year, there are lots of changes to the law. It changes on a local level — each individual court is responsible for setting and enforcing specific rules of practice within their courtrooms. It changes on a state level – each year in July, new laws are introduced and the entire state must adjust. It also changes on a federal level – most recently, tax laws (especially as it relates to child dependency exemptions) changes really changed some things that we had previously considered long established.

As you can probably imagine, it’s difficult keeping up with those changes. It’s especially difficult when they’re a little more obscure – but judges have no sympathy. You – through the attorney you hire – must be up to date on all the changes in the law. So, we have to fight constantly to stay at the cutting edge.

The Virginia Bar Association requires that attorneys complete 12 hours of continuing education credit each year to make sure that we at least try to stay on top of all the changes. It’s probably a little more complicated for those attorneys who try to practice across a broad range of practice areas – say, who take cases in family law, and personal injury, and criminal law, too.

That’s why we often say that focusing on one area of law exclusively – for us, that area is divorce, custody, and support for women – means that we can provide superior representation. After all, our attorneys (even our younger attorneys) have typically handled more family law cases than those older practitioners who spread their caseload across a number of different areas of law. It matters!

If you’re wondering, “How do they keep up with all those changes?”, I have to say that sometimes, it’s difficult. We’re fortunate that we have such a large firm of women dedicated to practicing law the same way we do. We meet each week to go over our cases, to ask questions about the problems we’re facing, to go over recent cases from the appeals courts, and to hear from speakers (anyone from a business valuator to a drug testing expert). It definitely gives us the edge.

Recently, both Sheera and Lori were asked to speak at the 2019 NBI Advanced Family Law Seminar, coming up this October in Norfolk, Virginia. It’s one of those continuing education classes I mentioned earlier, but instead of just attending to keep abreast of the various changes in the law, Sheera and Lori will be TEACHING the material to other local lawyers.

I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that there’s a difference between attending and teaching. It’s the difference between student and professor. Quite simply, it’s an honor and a recognition of a real career full of achievement. Not just anyone gets asked to speak at these seminars, and it’s also quite telling that, in an “advanced” family law seminar, TWO of our attorneys were selected to speak.

Sheera is the owner of the firm and the practicing attorney with the most seniority. She’s been with Hofheimer for over 20 years, and has gained quite a reputation for herself, especially where it comes to litigating cases with complicated equitable distribution issues, collaborative law, and anything financial (she’s also a Certified Financial Planner).

Her piece is on complex asset cases. As you can probably guess, it’s an area that a lot of attorneys (even seasoned family law attorneys) might avoid. Cases where there are family owned businesses, complicated retirement accounts, various real estate holdings, prenuptial agreements, commingled property, or other crazy issues are nerve wracking to other attorneys – but, needless to say, not Sheera.

Lori has been practicing for over 30 years, and, up until the last several years, ran her own law firm as a solo practitioner. She joined our firm about two years ago, and we feel so fortunate to have snagged her for our own.

She’s a great legal mind and loves to argue about complicated points of law. She’s also very, very familiar with military divorce – the topic on which she was selected to speak. It’s not the first time she has taught a roomful of attorneys about military divorce, but the challenging thing is that the rules just KEEP CHANGING. So, Lori has really had to stay on top of all of the changes. It’s one thing to just practice military divorce law, it’s quite another to prepare to speak to an entire group of lawyers about it!

Between the two, we’re fortunate enough to have some of the best, strongest, most well respected minds in family law practicing right in our midst. It’s a real testament to the strength of the firm and the collective knowledge to which we all have access.

Congratulations to Lori and Sheera!

For more information, or to schedule an appointment with Sheera, Lori, or any of our other family law attorneys dedicated to representing women only, give our office a call at 757-425-5200.